The effect of initial grain size on the microstructures developed during cold rolling of a single-phase aluminium alloy

High resolution Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) in a field emission gun scanning electron microscope (FEGSEM) was used to study substructural development during the deformation by cold rolling of a single-phase Al-0.1Mg alloy with initial grain sizes between -3mum and 120mum. In the coarse-grained material, bands of elongated cells aligned at approximately 35degrees to the rolling direction were formed at low strains. However, as the grain size was reduced, fewer of these aligned microstructural features were formed, and at the smallest grain sizes, there was little evidence of significant substructure within the deformed grains. The alignment of low angle boundaries was analysed from EBSD data and shown to be a function of grain size, strain and boundary misorientation.